Torah Commentary Excerpt

Genesis 20

Genesis 20:1-2

1 And Aḇraham set out from there to the land of the South, and dwelt between Qaḏĕsh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar.

2 And Aḇraham said concerning Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Aḇimeleḵ king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

Abraham again misleads Abimelech. He misleads him using a true statement, much like the serpent in the garden when he beguiled Eve. The idea that Abraham, who is thought of as one of the Bible’s heroes, would be cast in the mould of the serpent may seem wrong but we should acknowledge that each person’s behaviour is seen first in the early archetypical characters of Genesis. The Word allows us to recognise our own behaviours in their actions, and to discern thereby their value and quality. Such distance from the immediacy of their situations, allows us the detachment necessary for the evaluation of our own circumstances with an otherwise inaccessible dispassionate objectivity. We all must appreciate our capacity to not only be righteous Noahs, Daniels and Davids but also to be corrupt serpents, Pharaohs and Herods and hopefully – with the requisite self-reflection –  we can model our character on the admirable rather than the perverse. Ultimately these characteristics are all emulated from YHVH and so doing constitutes what worship actually is. Our recognition of and efforts to imitate such attributes are de facto worship. The idea that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ could be articulated as ‘incorporating the attributes of another into one’s own character is the purest worship of that other that is possible’, although one can appreciate why the shorter formulation of that thought is generally preferred. Seeking to be like God necessarily implies an inherent adoration of Him whereas singing songs about or to Him can just as easily be insincere as earnest. ‘Worship’ music is often for the benefit and enjoyment of the ‘worshipper’ rather than for the exaltation of God whereas a genuine response of changing one’s behaviours from pleasing one’s flesh to pleasing God is only ever a recognition of His pre-eminence and an adulation of His glorious name.

Genesis 20:3-5

3 But Elohim came to Aḇimeleḵ in a dream by night, and said to him, “See, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”

4 However, Aḇimeleḵ had not come near her, and he said, “יהוה, would You slay a righteous nation also?

5 “Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands I have done this.”

God intervenes to prevent Abimelech from sinning against Him and presents Abimelech with the truth. Abimelech interrogates YHVH’s character and demonstrates that our own innate sense of justice is aligned with YHVH’s. His ways are higher than our own and we can be misled by emotion, among other things, to have a twisted notion of morality but in the basic concepts of equity and fairness, our instincts reflect YHVH’s nature.

God now does that which He does in the lives of all who encounter Him, He lays out right and wrong and allows the choice between believing Him and obeying His Word and defining good and evil oneself and deviating from what He has said to whatever degree one decides is acceptable.

Genesis 20:6

6 And Elohim said to him in a dream, “Yea, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart, and so I kept you from sinning against Me. For this reason I did not let you touch her.

God here recognises Abimelech’s innocency in his lack of knowledge regarding the true situation as His reason for leniency in His dealings with him. God is just and His judgement of man is in accordance with man’s knowledge. Man’s culpability is predicated upon his willingness to oppose God’s instructions:

Proverbs 24:12

12 If you say, “See, we did not know this,” Would not He who weighs the hearts discern it? He who watches over your soul, Would He not know it? And shall He not repay man according to his work?

Genesis 20:7

7 “And now, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and let him pray for you and you live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall certainly die (mot tamut), you and all that are yours.”

What YHVH tells Abimelech here is exactly the same as what He told Adam in the garden as regards the consequences of wilful disobedience to His instructions:

Genesis 2:16-17

16 And יהוה Elohim commanded the man, saying, “Eat of every tree of the garden,

17 but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it you shall certainly die (mot tamut).”

We know that those whose sin is not a knowing transgression against what YHVH has said do not have it reckoned to them.

Romans 5:12-14

12 For this reason, even as through one man sin did enter into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned –

13 for until the Torah, sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned when there is no Torah.

14 But death reigned from Aḏam until Mosheh, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Aḏam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Abimelech is basically told here, ‘Now that you have My teaching and instruction, should you transgress against it, you will suffer the consequences.’ We have YHVH’s Torah and we also will have transgression of it reckoned to us.

Just like in the garden we have here somebody who is misled with a true statement and who is told the truth by God, who is clear about the consequences of disobedience. We can learn an important lesson from this. We are to believe God when He gives us Torah and ignore those who would mislead us with the truth. It is true that no flesh is justified by works of Torah, however, when people use that truth to mislead us into thinking that we are not required by God to do the Torah to be pleasing to Him, we should believe God’s original Words:

Psalm 119:108-113

108 Please accept the voluntary offerings Of my mouth, O יהוה, And teach me Your justices.

109 My life is in my hand continually, and Your Torah I have not forgotten.

110 The wrong have laid a snare for me, But I have not strayed from Your orders.

111 Your witnesses are my inheritance forever, For they are the joy of my heart.

112 I have inclined my heart to do Your laws forever, to the end.

113 I have hated doubting thoughts, But I have loved Your Torah.

Proverbs 4:2

2 For I gave you good instruction: Do not forsake my Torah.

Theologians may well confuse us with tales of a Messiah who came to abrogate or do away with His own ‘law’ (teaching and direction) by misusing the true Word but we must hold fast to the  good instruction that we’re given by a loving God and not be swayed from them by such people. Eve could rightly claim to have been misled by the serpent but if she had believed God’s Torah she would have acted correctly. As it was, she was held accountable along with the serpent.

Genesis 20:8-10

8 So Aḇimeleḵ rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their hearing. And the men were greatly frightened.

9 And Aḇimeleḵ called Aḇraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? In what have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done matters to me that should not be done.”

10 And Aḇimeleḵ said to Aḇraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this matter?”

The news that God Himself had proclaimed that they would die if they were not to return Abraham’s wife would presumably terrify these men. It is possible that memory of the flood would still be fresh in tales and folklore and that news of God’s visit to Abimelech would have an amplified significance to men of this period. That Abraham thought to negligently bring such wrath upon them may take on a new seriousness were this true. We cannot know if this was the case but it is certainly true that men then had a different appreciation for the magnitude of such warnings than men now.

Genesis 20:11-12

11 And Aḇraham said, “Only because I said to myself, the fear of Elohim is not in this place, and they shall kill me for the sake of my wife.

12 “And yet, she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.

Often, like Abraham here, we can have a tendency to justify our wrong actions by saying that we are fearful of the consequences of acting truthfully. God’s Word is truth but we are sometimes beset by lies and tempted towards acting in accordance with them. Abraham is here living in the time before the Torah was given and as such his missteps are not reckoned to him but we must be careful to conform our justifications to the truth:

Psalm 119:142

142 Your righteousness is righteousness forever, and Your Torah is truth.

Knowing the truth is essential to exposing justifications that are lies, as such. YHVH expects that we will fear but in that He tests our resolve and belief. When lies induce fear of the consequences of walking out God’s Torah, those who believe it to be true will quieten their fears in belief. It is a perfect test of one’s belief in the Word, when one’s own reasoning would dictate another course of action, whether one chooses to act in accordance to it. Only those who truly believe would act contrary to their own senses.

Genesis 20:13

13 “And it came to be, when Elohim caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

Abraham is truthful here. It does not seem that he desires to be deceitful or to mislead. It was doubtlessly a mistake to seek to do so initially but this mistake in no way characterises Abraham. In a similar way, if we sin it should not be habitual. It should be a misdeed that one easily turns from, it falling from one distastefully as a repugnant and odorous error from which one enthusiastically retreats. When one learns that something is desirable or undesirable to God, one’s reaction should be to instinctually embrace it or be revulsed by it. That is not to say that one’s flesh will react that way but rather one’s spirit:

Romans 7:14-19

14 For we know that the Torah is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.

15 For what I work, I know not. For what I wish, that I do not practise, but what I hate, that I do.

16 But if I do what I do not wish, I agree with the Torah that it is good.

17 And now, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me.

18 For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good. For to wish is present with me, but to work the good I do not find.

19 For the good that I wish to do, I do not do; but the evil I do not wish to do, this I practise.

This is the plight of those enslaved by the flesh. We must walk in accordance with our spirits which acknowledge the Torah as good and put to death our flesh which would seek to subvert it:

Romans 8:7-8

7 Because the mind of the flesh is enmity towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself to the Torah of Elohim, neither indeed is it able, 

8 and those who are in the flesh are unable to please Elohim.

One must overcome one’s flesh to be pleasing to God.

Genesis 20:14-15

14 Then Aḇimeleḵ took sheep, and cattle, and male and female servants, and gave them to Aḇraham. And he returned Sarah his wife to him.

15 And Aḇimeleḵ said, “See, my land is before you, dwell wherever it is good in your eyes.”

When one’s ways are pleasing to YHVH and one lives according to His teaching and direction, one’s way in the world is eased:

Proverbs 3:1-4

1 My son, do not forget my Torah, And let your heart watch over my commands;

2 For length of days and long life and peace they add to you.

3 Let not kindness and truth forsake you – Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,

4 Thus finding favour and good insight In the eyes of Elohim and man.

Proverbs 16:7

7 When a man’s ways please יהוה, HH(h)e makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Whether one’s adherence to the good way evokes such a reaction in people, whether YHVH intervenes in the life of one who believes His Word to give them favour in the eyes of others, or whether it is a combination of the two, one thing is certain, YHVH has promised that one who so orders his steps will enjoy these benefits. We see Abraham here as beneficiary of these promises.

Genesis 20:16

16 And to Sarah he said, “See, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. See, it is to you a covering of eyes before all who are with you and before all others, and you are cleared before everyone.”

It is not certain what Abimelech said to Sarah because the Septuagint records this differently:

Genesis 20:16 (Brenton’s LXX)

16 And to Sarrha he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver, those shall be to thee for the price of thy countenance, and to all the women with thee, and speak the truth in all things. 

Both accounts record that Abimelech spoke to Sarah but his words vary between them. What he said is certainly not important, thankfully.

Genesis 20:17-18

17 And Aḇraham prayed to Elohim, and Elohim healed Aḇimeleḵ, and his wife, and his female servants, so they bore children,

18 for יהוה had closed up all the wombs of the house of Aḇimeleḵ because of Sarah, Aḇraham’s wife.

The fact that YHVH does not heal Abimelech’s house until Abraham prays for him is noteworthy. We are told that the prayer of one who is righteous accomplishes much:

James 5:16

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, so that you are healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous one accomplishes much.

Reading this, we might think of YHVH to have not healed Him by His action alone but it would not be irregular for YHVH to be said to have healed him by Abraham’s hand, through his prayer. YHVH is said to accomplish things by the hand of others. The Torah itself was commanded by Moses’ hand:

Leviticus 10:11

11 and to teach the children of Yisra’ĕl all the laws which יהוה has spoken to them by the hand of Mosheh.”

Leviticus 26:46

46 These are the laws and the justices and the Torot which יהוה made between Himself and the children of Yisra’ĕl on Mount Sinai by the hand of Mosheh.

God is also said by Solomon to have promised by his hand:

1 Kings 8:56

56 “Blessed be יהוה, who has given rest to His people Yisra’ĕl, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good word, which He promised by the hand of His servant Mosheh.

YHVH’s wrath is poured out by the hand of men:

2 Chronicles 12:7

7 And when יהוה saw that they humbled themselves, the word of יהוה came to Shemayah, saying, “They have humbled themselves. I do not destroy them, but I shall give to them some deliverance, and not pour out My wrath on Yerushalayim by the hand of Shishaq,

Jeremiah 38:23

23 ‘And they are going to surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but be taken by the hand of the king of Baḇel, and this city shall be burned with fire.’”

Ezekiel 25:14

14 “And I shall lay My vengeance on Eḏom by the hand of My people Yisra’ĕl. And they shall do in Eḏom according to My displeasure and according to My wrath. So they shall know My vengeance,” declares the Master יהוה.

When the angel of YHVH speaks, it is YHVH speaking ‘by the hand of an angel’:

Acts 7:35

35 “This Mosheh whom they had refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ – this one Elohim sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

We do not know YHVH’s motivations in any detail and it is inadvisable to give conjecture any weight but His reasons could have been many. Yeshua’s miracles indicated that He was Messiah to men:

John 11:41-42

41 And many came to Him and said, “Yoḥanan indeed did no sign, yet all that Yoḥanan said about this Man was true.” 

42 And many believed in Him there.

It is conceivable therefore that in telling Abimelech to have Abraham pray for him, YHVH was either communicating something to him or in some way causing Abimelech to react to Abraham in a particular way:

Genesis 20:7

7 “And now, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and let him pray for you and you live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall certainly die, you and all that are yours.”

Whatever the case, the healing was by YHVH’s power and according to His will.